not an average day
by mezzalou
Summary: cate and heath from season 10 being held hostage, in a similar situation with her old partner and the meth head who took them hostage.
1. Chapter 1

It was a dull day in Sydney, but today was slow for the ambulance officers so they sat having a brew in the ambulance station chatting away.

"So what did you do last night because you didn't come out with the rest of the team, so come on who is he" asks Heath being nosey, trying to ease out the important information from his partner.

"Oh I had something to do last night and no it was not a guy" answers Cate.

"Fine be like that maybe we can talk more over a drink since I believe there is more to you that you're not letting on" brags heath.

"Ok I will but you're buying the first round" says Cate.

" _Any units from ambulance operations assault at Franklin Street, neighbour reports of blood on the patio" says Operator voice through the radio._

"Car 978 we will take that over" says Heath answering the call.

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Scene

Arriving at the scene both heath and Cate take in the surrounding trying not to judge the people who live here but when it comes to domestic incidents they get all judgemental.

Walking into the house they are approached by a frantic man, who they believe is the husband of the women who is injured, when they walk into the front room of the house they see the lady lay on the floor badly beaten, bleeding from the face and from what looks to be a gunshot wound to her upper arm, soon they get to work on stabilizing the women for transport.

Cate turns around to see the frantic man holding a gun to their faces, hands shaking, sweat dripping off his head like he was high on something.

"Sir we need you to put the weapon down and let us go so we can help your wife" pleads Cate.

"No you're not going anywhere with her, she stays here" shouts angry husband.

"ok sir if you won't put the gun down, then please explain to me why you are withholding treatment for your wife" asks Heath trying to get a clear picture of the situation.

"She… she tried to leave me, she said that I aint good enough for her and my drug habit is a problem for our marriage" stutters man trying to control the shakes and the gun.

"Ok but let us treat her then we can talk more" says Heath reasoning with the man.

"No she should be dead"

"Why should she be dead" asks Cate.

"She wanted to throw it all away and go to the cops about me and my import business, I could not let that happen" cries unstable man.

"Okay so put the gun down and run get away from here before the police arrive" says Cate, but is interrupted by her radio which distresses the man even more.

"Radio's and all communication off now on the floor" shouts man.

Cate took her time taking her equipment off her person and the husband got impatient, he took matters into his own hands and he landed a solid kick to her side knocking her to the floor gasping for air and groaning at the pain in her side, then he delivers another blow but to her head, he knocks her clean out landing in a heap on the floor beside the wounded wife.

"See that's what you get when you cross me so don't cross me you here" shouts a getting all up in heaths face.

Heath looks too his partner's lifeless body that lay on the floor of the man's house, she lay there with blood pooling round her head, heath wanted to check her but he was scared to move in case the man got an itchy trigger finger.

"Sir I need to check your wife and please let me check my partner over "pleads Heath.

"Fine but make it quick" answers man.

Heath gets up from his place on the floor, he grabs his medical bag and first off he checks on the wife who is slowly bleeding out and he also suspects that she has internal bleeding, after checking the current patient he goes over to his partner, he places two fingers to her neck and is relieved to feel a faint pulse beneath his fingers, he shines a light into her eyes, and lastly for precautions since she is unconscious he places a spinal collar round her neck to prevent spinal injury.

He sits back down now he knows his partner is okay and now it's a waiting game for both her to wake up and for the mad husband to put the gun down.

"How are they doing" asks Man?

"Both fine at the moment but your wife is slowly deteriorating, we need to get her to a hospital fast" pleads heath.

Soon there was bang which shocked heath to the core, looking round he sees smoke puffing out the end of the gun in the man's hand, he looks to where the gun was aimed and sees the man's wife lay on the floor with a bullet hole to her head, and blood was pooling beneath her lifeless body.

Heath staggers to the women and checks for signs of life, he determined that she was dead by the hands of her own husband who didn't want her going to the police because of his drug smuggling operation, which in his opinion was on a large scale due to the fancy gear scattered round the place and all the large boxes stacked up near the front door awaiting delivery to their destinations.

"whoa buddy what's the matter you can't go round shooting people, and know that you just did that cops will be swarming round here in matter of minutes" shouts heath trying to reason the man down.

"So she is dead now, so shut up or she is next" shouts man.

"Fine but if we are going to be stuck together I need to know your name" asks Heath.

"Derek" answers Derek.

"Ok Derek my name is heath and we need to get out of here, maybe a hospital because I am concerned for my partner she hasn't regained consciousness" pleads heath.

"Fine but no hospital, and I will get your trolley out the ambulance" says Derek.

"Ok great but I will also need a spine board it should be on the trolley" explains heath.

"Right I'll be back in a minute no running away" says Derek waving the gun in his face.

Heath moves quickly to his partner and tries to make her wake up and he gets a painful response.

"Cate can you hear" shouts Heath trying to make his partner wake up.

"Uhhh" groans cate.

"Cate open your eyes" orders heath.

She opens her eyes but blinks a couple of times trying to make her vision clear for her to see, soon she can see and she notices she is looking up at her partner, she tries to move but pain radiates through her head and her left side, she winces because of the pain which heath notices first time.

"You in pain mate" asks Heath.

"Yeah what happened" asks Cate.

"We are being held hostage and the gunman has gone to get the trolley from the ambulance but he won't take us to the nearest hospital so you are stuck with me for medical treatment" explains heath.

"Great what about some pain relief" asks Cate breathing through the pain.

"Sure but I can't give you lots I have to make it last but before he comes back and I give you this I need to examine you" says Heath.

"Make it quick" says Cate.

Heath un buttons cate's shirt half way just so he can get a good look at her left side, he sees a dark purple bruise had already formed on her side he presses on her side feeling for her ribs and she winces at the pain of him touching and he feels she has a cracked rib.

"Hey you got a cracked rib so let me know if you have trouble breathing" says Heath redressing her.

"Okay" says Cate but she is cut off when she hears the man returning with the trolley.

Derek bashes each wall as he pushes the trolley into the house, heath runs over to help him guide the trolley to where he needs it, they both work together to get cate onto the spinal board and then the trolley.

"Hey put this flat against her back and help me roll her onto her back" says heath guiding him through a log roll.

He does as heath directs and soon cate is flat on the spinal board.

"Right now on 3 … 3, 2, 1 lift" shouts heath.

They lift her onto the trolley and strap her onto it, Derek grabs the gun and a bag full of money and his product for the journey, once loaded in the back of the ambulance Derek gets in the back while heath turns on the lights and sirens and heads to a place where Derek tells him.


	2. Chapter 2

Not an average day

Chapter 2

All saints emergency department

Banging clanking the sound of busy people running round doing their jobs hoping not to get in trouble by their fearless leader Dr Frank Campion, part of his job is to run the ED and people not working gets on his wick.

Frank walks round near the sub-acute cubicles with paperwork in hand; he walks past Gabrielle the nursing unit manager who had just been on the phone with the police, after they requested something so bizarre.

"Frank that was the police, there police surgeon is not available and they have a dead body at a house, they need a doctor to come out and sign the death certificate, before the body is removed" explains Gabrielle.

"what's there hurry, can't st Angela's send one of their doctor" shouts frank.

"I don't know they just requested one of our doctors and ambulance operations also requested us to, don't know why" says Gabrielle.

"fine who shall we send" says Frank looking round to see which of his available doctors were free.

"I can go, I won't be long and I can be there and back in 30 minutes" says Zoe offering.

"ok you got 30 minutes, and make sure you find out why we got requested personally, please" shouts frank.

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Murder scene

At the scene where the murder slash kidnapping took place where lots of law enforcement officials as well as ambulance department officials too, who were all wanting answers to many questions, everyone at the scene have un answered questions such as doctor Gallagher.

When Zoe arrives to the address she is met by Lorraine an ambulance officer who many of all saints staff have met and had run ins with her, so Zoe was shocked to see her but she knew Lorraine could answer her questions.

"Hey Lorraine, what have we got and where do you want me" asks Zoe walking up to the crime scene tape.

"hey doc follow me and mind your step, call came in 9:50 am by distressed neighbours saying they heard gunshots, they came to have a look and seen a lady on the floor bleeding, ambos arrived, then at 10:30 am they heard another gunshot, and they seen the ambulance officers come out with the trolley and load up and they sped off and that's all they seen" says Lorraine talking her through the timeline of events.

"Okay so who is this then" asks Zoe putting her things next to the deceased lady.

"Valerie Reilly gunshot wound to arm why we were called first time and then soon after the fatal shot came, she died instantly but we need the death certificate signed before the forensics guys take her" says Lorraine.

"Okay I don't see why you asked for a doctor" asks Zoe looking worried.

"When I arrived we found this lady dead but her wounds were patched up and she has a cannula in her right hand, meaning she had medical attention before she died, and then we spotted this" says Lorraine talking and pointing out the obvious evidence on the floor.

"Is that hers" asks Zoe.

"Not that we or they think, and this blood pool is separate from the women's and far away from her body, we think someone else was injured here as well" says Lorraine.

"So where is the other victim and who are they" asks Zoe.

"Look we asked for one of your lot down here because we need you to speak to Frank or your num" asks Lorraine

"Why" asks Zoe.

"Cate and heath responded to the first call, but ambulance operations lost contact with them at 10:15 am, and these are there radio's, we believe that they have been kidnapped and one of them is hurt" explains Lorraine.

"what and you think the blood belongs to one of them" asks Zoe in a shocked voice.

"yep and that's what the witnesses are saying, they say hat they seen two men wheeling out the trolley with an unconscious women lay on it with a collar on" says Lorraine.

"cate, you think cate was injured and you ask me here so I could get a DNA sample off her old file" answers Zoe figuring out the problem.

"if you could that will be great and ask them to send it to the crime lab for analysis please" asks Lorraine.

"yeah sure, here is the death certificate and I have to get back and tell everyone else but can you keep all saints informed of your outcomes please" asks Zoe preparing to leave the crime scene and head back to the hospital.

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Emergency department

Frank campion walked round the ED busy trying to treat patients that are not his since he authorized one of his doctors to go out to a crime scene so it was only him and charlotte treating patients, since Sean was treating a patient in rescus, after wandering from one place to another he puffs a sigh of relief when Zoe walks through the door, but he senses something is wrong.

"Gallagher my office now" shouts frank ordering her to his office.

"Err wait a minute frank I need to speak to Gabrielle" says Zoe.

"Well tell her to come and join us then" says Frank.

"Ok, Gabrielle franks office now" answers Zoe and shouts Gabrielle to the office.

They all enter the office and both frank and Gabrielle sit at there desks waiting for the blonde doctor to start talking.

"so how did it go and why the long face" asks Frank.

"I signed the death certificate and I found out why we were requested" answers Zoe.

"okay so what is it" asks Frank.

"and why do you want me here" asks Gabrielle

"the lady who died she was shot first then killed awhile later, but the police are treating this as a kidnapping and murder" explains Zoe.

"What" asks Gabrielle?

"And who was kidnapped" asks Frank.

"The police believe the husband shot her first time for some unknown reason then he killed her in the presence of two ambulance officers, and know the ambulance officers, the ambulance and her husband are all missing" says Zoe

"Who attended the call" asks Frank getting de ja vu.

"Cate and heath" answers Zoe.

"Great and the past repeat itself" mutters frank earning a look from Zoe and Gabrielle.

"err there was a pool of blood that does not belong to the wife, and going from the witnesses statements we believe that cate was injured, ambulance operations asked me to ask you could you get a sample of cate DNA and send it to the lab to test and rule out cate's blood" asks Zoe.

"Err yeah sure I'll get onto it" says Gabrielle.

"So frank getting back to what you said, you just said the past repeats itself, what did you mean" asks Zoe probing for answers.

"A few years ago Cate and her partner at the time attended a call and ended up being held hostage by a meth crazed man, they found them in the end, and no one got seriously hurt" explains frank.

"Oh so some of you lot have experience" says Gabrielle.

"Oh I asked the ambos, to keep us updated, and maybe we should inform the staff, they might be worried" says Zoe.

"Yeah sure, I will do it meet me out there and gather everyone.

Zoe and Gabrielle gather all the doctors and nursing staff to the nurse's station, and soon their fearless leader was there to tell them what was going on.

"can I have your attention, I need to tell you something but please save your questions, but I will tell you that I received information that a few hours ago a mad man shot and killed his wife and now he has taken to ambulance officers hostage, now the people are cate McMaster and heath valega, I know we are concerned but we can't do anything yet so get back to work and I will keep you all informed of any progress" explains frank and then leaves to get on with work lie everyone else.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Unknown position

Driving round in circles was annoying for heath all he wanted to do was jump in the back of the ambulance and attack the mad men with the gun, but he couldn't since he has a injured cate in the back lying on the trolley with the man sat at her side comforting her and keeping a watchful eye over her.

"Hey turn into this street and keep going and don't stop for anyone" says Derek giving the orders.

"Okay but this is a dead end, and I don't know where to go, you will have to direct me" says Heath trying to put the man off.

"Fine just follow the road round until you come to some abandoned warehouses, then stop" explains Derek.

Heath does as he is told to do by his captor, even though he felt like jumping in the back and knocking the man out and taking the gun off of him, so that he could attend to his injured colleague, but he couldn't to keep her safe he has to stay safe to that means not giving into temptation, after following the road he turns into the warehouse and stops the van and switches the engine off, he sits there waiting for instructions.

"Get out and help me get her out" orders Derek.

"Okay but least let me get a few medical supplies and treat her while I can" asks Heath.

"Fine but hurry up" says Derek.

Heath helps to get the trolley out of the ambulance, he climbs back in to the van and grabs a medical bag, and soon he starts work trying to sort out his partner.

"Cate can you hear me" shouts heath trying to wake the unconscious ambo.

After no response he took her blood pressure, and it was low for his liking, he swore under his breath and thinking that she needs a hospital badly, he listened to her chest and he couldn't hear a lot of breath sound s on her right side, soon she would not be breathing.

"Hurry up we haven't got all day" shouts Derek.

"Hey what you going to do know since we are stuck here" queries heath.

Soon they hear the sound of a boat, the sound got closer and closer, then all they hear is splashing water and wood scraping against the side of the port, then there were footsteps noise several coming towards them, a big man along with three other men all turned into the warehouse carrying bags and weapons, they looked like a small army. Then heath figured out the deceased women discovered her husband was a drug smuggler and she didn't want to be a part of it, and now he was doing a deal and then was going to escape.

"You rotten bastard, you killed your wife on purpose, and my partner figured it out and you shot her because she was protecting her" shout heath.

"She got in the way she shouldn't have done that" shouts Derek.

"Hey who is this man and what happened to this lovely woman" asks big dog a drug dealer.

"err they are ambulance people they helped my wife who is no longer with us god bless her soul, but they got in the way and she got hurt and he is protecting his girlfriend" says Derek trying to reason with his mates who were not buying his story.

"And what happened to your wife" asks Big dog.

"Err she got shot in the head and arm she accidently held the gun to her head and fired it" says Derek spinning a lie.

"Really is that what really happened and how did the lady get hurt, did she get the gun and did she hit herself over the head too" says Big dog asking in a sarcastic tone.

"Yes wow you are really good, now can we ignore what is happening here and get on with the deal so I can leave with my money and you can stay here with your new product" asks Derek eager to leave Sydney.

"No I want to hear his story before we deal" says Big dog pointing to heath.

"What me" asks Heath.

"Yes you" answers big dog.

"ok well me and my partner attended a distress call from a neighbour of your friend, when we arrived we found his wife on the floor bleeding from the upper arm and she was beaten badly, while give medical attention my partner turns round to see him pointing a gun at us, he hold us hostage, and then he shot his wife in the head, and carried on holding us hostage, he beaten my partner she regained consciousness a little while ago and now she is un responsive and she needs a hospital so please hurry up and try and talk him into letting us go" pleads heath.

"You despicable man shooting your wife and beating a women, even I would think not to touch a lady, the deals off" shouts big dog

"What you can't do that" shouts Derek.

"I don't deal with wife murderers or men who prey on women and let these good people go" says big dog leaving, but once he is out of sight he calls the police and leaves.

After the gang of drug dealers leave it left heath, cate and Derek alone in the warehouse.

"You, you and all the people around me did this now you are going to have to pay" shout Derek.

"Look we didn't do anything you did it to yourself" says Heath.

"Really well you should be sorry" says Derek and then next minute there is a bang.

Heath opens his eyes when he feels no pain, he examines himself from top to bottom and finds no blood or holes then he looks to cate and she has blood pooling on her shoulder.

"You shot her you animal" shout heath.

Before they could argue they hear sirens surrounding the building, and Derek hears he grabs the drugs and leaves the warehouse, he hijacks a boat and escapes before the police no he is gone, leaving the police to find cate and heath alone.

Heath walked to the trolley looking at his partner, then he examined her, he check her pulse, her breathing and her blood pressure, he placed more IV bags around her and hooked her up trying to replace the blood she lost hoping she may survive, soon the ambulances arrive and there friends arrive to help, and Lorraine hops out first and she is hot on there tail.

"heath may I say it so good to see ya, now let's get a dressing on her shoulder and on a fresh board and trolley, then we are going to all saints" says Lorraine.

"Great I checked her out earlier she had a cracked rib, but the moving her may have broken it and I think she has a punctured lung, she woke up earlier but now she is just comatose" explains heath.

"Ok decreased breath sounds on the right possible concussion and she has a nasty bump on the back of her head and near her neck" says Lorraine listing the injuries she can feel when examining cate.

"Yeah and he shot her before he left so her body wont cope" says heath.

"we will deal with it now just let's get the pair of you out of here and to hospital, they now we are coming" says Lorraine.


	4. Chapter 4

All saints emergency department

Rushing round, people rushing past each other grabbing necessary items for the Income they were about to receive, frank received a phone call from ambulance operations telling them to prepare for an injured ambulance officer with multiple injuries consistent with a beating, plus to top it all off they have a gunshot wound as well.

"hey clear rescus I want it cleared and page surgery make sure we have them down here, for when the ambo arrive" shouts frank giving orders to his staff.

"Hey frank did they tell you who was injured" asks Gabrielle.

"no they only told me about the beating and apparently the husband hit them on the front of the head as well right near the neck, so we may have a spinal injury too" states Frank.

Soon the doors open and in comes Lorraine pulling the trolley and rushing at a fast pace.

"hey cate McMasters 30 years old, gunshot wound to right shoulder,2 cracked ribs possibly broken, head injury on front of her head and at the back near the base of her neck, she was conscious at first but deteriorated over a long period of time, she has had 3 litres of saline and we put in two cannulas, plus she had 5mg morphine when being held hostage but nothing since" rants off Lorraine.

"Ok get x-ray down here, I want full bloods a fast scanner and get blood and hang another litre of saline" shout s frank.

"On it, do you want me to get a hold of her mother" asks Gabrielle.

"Not yet let's get her across on my count, move" says Frank moving the spinal board with the team getting it onto the other bed.

"Cate can you hear me, open your eyes" says Zoe trying to get a response.

"No response, her pupils are reacting to light" says Zoe.

"ok err Gabby take bloods I want full bloods including group and save and cross match her for three units" says Frank telling her what they need.

Soon cate was on the trolley lay there motionless, and fragile, everyone stood beside the trolley busying them, trying to keep their minds focused on the patient, and not their personal connection to the patient, with everyone busy working they soon had cate stabilized and ready for theatre until they hit an obstacle.

"Frank oxygen saturations have dropped and she has decreased breath sound on her left side of her chest" shouts Zoe watching the monitors and the numbers dropping on the screen.

"Ok have her chest x-rays come back" asks Frank?

"Here they are" says Dan walking in with the films in hand.

Frank snatches the films out of his hand, he thrusts the films onto the board, both him and Zoe look at the board, and soon the x-rays confirm her diagnosis.

"Zoe place a chest tube and chase up surgery" orders Frank.

"Sure on it and I think mike is on his way down in ten minutes" answers Zoe getting ready to do the chest tube.

Frank stands at the end of the cubicle when heath walks in along with Lorraine hoping for an update on the critically ill colleague.

"Hey heath can I say you did a good job on treating her in the field, she is still fighting, how is the hunt for the man who did this" says Frank commending the ambulance officers bravery and trying to find out what happened to the man.

"Thanks frank, err how is Cate doing know" asks heath?

"she's doing ok just stabilizing her know before we send her up to surgery, so they can remove the bullet from her shoulder, its touch and go at the moment but she is strong" states frank.

"Oh the police found the guy, turns out he had a shady import business, but it didn't make money after the money dried up he started using it instead, his behaviour got out of control, until his wife left him, and that's why he attacked her and killed her, and why he tried to kill cate as well, they caught him trying to flee across the border" states Lorraine.

"Good well least we have some good new to give cate, for when she wakes up" says Frank.

"Yeah hey look can I go sit with her once she is out of surgery" asks Heath.

"Sure she could do with a friend when she wakes up" agrees Frank

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Soon surgery arrive at the emergency department ready to take cate upstairs for her surgery, mike saunters into resuscitation room flapping his wings as he goes, soon they take cate upstairs to remove the bullet and stop the bleeding.

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A few hours later

In the post-surgery ward cate woke up to the feel like she was on dreamy land, making groggy noises as she woke, moving her head from side to side making herself wince waking the person who sat beside her, soon heath comes to the side of the bed when he hears her groaning from pain when she moved.

"Hey mate how you feeling" asks Heath?

"Great part from the headache, chest pain and shoulder pain" answers Cate in a groggy voice.

"Good well I spoke to mike and he says you will be fine as long as you follow doctor's orders, and a few weeks of physio you should be back to work in no time" explains heath

"Great when I get out of here" asks cate eagerly.

"Not for another two days at least, then you need help at home, so I called your mother and she will be here within the hour" says heath.

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A few months later

After having surgery to repair the injured shoulder and her chest, cate returns to work with high hopes of forgetting the terrible ordeal her and her partner went through during the hostage situation, a few weeks before returning to work she went to court on the request of the prosecution, to help with getting a conviction she had to give a eye witness testimony, which she obliged since she was with a women who was a patient in her care, and she was subsequently murdered in her care to, so she was happy to hear that Derek Reilly has been given life for murder and attempted murder of her.


End file.
